


A Series of Unfortunate Misunderstandings

by bag_of_catZY (catZY)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Asexuality Spectrum, Bucky Bear - Freeform, Coney Island, Dum-E - Freeform, Fluff, Get together fic, Humor, Impala, M/M, Misunderstandings, Romance, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 04:32:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5525480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catZY/pseuds/bag_of_catZY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a long pause, Stark blew out a frustrated breath, “Soulmates suck. The whole thing is so stupid! It takes away freewill. You can’t just love and be with whoever—if you meet your soulmate, it’s like, bam! You’re stuck with this person forever. And you can forget about whoever you were with before you were struck by destiny or some such nonsense. The fucking law can make you divorce someone and marry your soulmate, just like that!”</p><p>Just Bucky's luck that he's always wanted a soulmate and the one person he's fascinated by hates the idea of soulmates. A series of unfortunate misunderstandings ensue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Series of Unfortunate Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [siyuttov](https://archiveofourown.org/users/siyuttov/gifts).



> This is my first fanfic ever. It's for the lovely siyuttov for the Winteriron Holiday Exchange. I hope you enjoy reading my story! Please leave some feedback if you'd like :)

At the ping of the elevator opening, Bucky sprang up from the overly comfortable couch and turned to face the elevator doors as if he was facing a firing squad. He felt Steve stand up next to him at a more normal, natural pace.

The first person to stride out of the elevator was a tall, gorgeous redhead in a cream colored business dress and stilettos of improbable heights. Her expression was two parts fond exasperation and three parts irritated annoyance. Following her was a shorter brunette man with the most ridiculous facial hair, wearing a greasy shirt and talking a mile a minute with gesticulating hands.

Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. America’s power couple, heads of the most successful tech company, and most importantly, owners of the building Steve was trying to get permission for the two of them to live in. Bucky couldn’t help but compare how he looked against how they did—why would they want him for a neighbor? This whole thing was seeming less and less like a good idea by the minute.

But Bucky needed help. He had a screwed up head and screwed up arm to match. He needed advanced medical and tech support and people who had high enough clearance to offer that support. New SHIELD was one option, but quite frankly, he had had enough of shady clandestine organizations to last several lifetimes. Even if the agents had been vetted by Steve himself, Bucky didn’t think he could ever trust a group with past ties to Hydra. So, Bucky was left with Avengers Tower as the other, perhaps only, option.

Bucky would never be able to adequately express his gratitude that Steve had given up his small brownstone in Brooklyn and with it, his privacy and desire for modest living, just for Bucky. It had taken months on the streets and then weeks more locked up tight in SHIELD trying to recover enough memories for him to be able to function safely in the real world. Bucky just hoped he wasn’t going to screw this meeting up.

When Potts and Stark drew within conversational distance of Steve and Bucky, Potts gave them a smile full of warm professionalism and said, “Sorry about being late. I had to drag this one”—here, she cast a pointed look at Stark, who seemed unaffected—“away from his toys.”

Before Steve could accept the apology, Stark turned big brown eyes on Potts and said in a whining, wheedling voice, “Pep, Pep, baby, Pepper, they’re not just toys, they’re the future! World saving, world shattering even—they’ll break the world in the best way. Wait, is that a contradiction? Does that make me sound like a villain?” His muttering trailed off, and then the look in his eyes turned sly, “Pepper, don’t be jealous, you know I’ll share my toys with you. We can play with them together.”

Potts just rolled her eyes while Steve slowly turned red. Bucky snorted—gotta love that pale Irish skin, always blushing at a drop of a hat.

Stark’s eyes snapped to Bucky at that snort. “And you must be Capsicle’s long lost pup, finally found at last.”

Bucky had a few witty retorts that he might have snapped out with ease a past life or two ago, but he still wasn’t totally used to inhabiting the skin of Bucky Barnes, roguish asshole and devilish womanizer. The only thing about this whole messy memory recovery business that was easy was Steve.

Potts said to Stark, with a smile in her voice, “Play nice.” She gave him a peck on the cheek, and then turned her own cheek slightly. Stark returned the kiss absentmindedly.

Potts faced back to the two soldiers and said, “Sorry about leaving so soon, but I have to get back to work.” Then, she extended a hand to Bucky, who shook her hand after a brief moment of hesitance, surprised that she was so willing to touch him. “It was great meeting you, but getting to know you will have to wait for another time. Just let JARVIS know when you’re free and I’ll pencil you in.”

She headed back towards the elevator, striding with great purpose and poise.

During Potts’ farewell, Stark had spent the entire time staring unabashedly at Bucky. His sharp eyes, dark with intent, had roamed all over Bucky, as if trying ferret out all of his secrets, maybe even see into his soul.

Stark’s eyes finally flicked away, and then he said, “Well, Cap finally accepted my invitation to live in the Avengers Clubhouse, so I guess I have you to thank for that. Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”

As Bucky and Steve followed Stark around to different levels of the Tower, Bucky let Stark’s droning on and on about all the advantages and amenities soothe him. The Tower wasn’t home and the people here weren’t friends or family, but maybe they could grow to be. What was left of his heart warmed at the thought.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Sarah Rogers had been a thin slip of a woman with wispy blond hair, a kind smile, firm hands, and the saddest blue eyes, the same blue as Stevie’s. In her eyes, Bucky had seen the hardships of poverty and single motherhood, only made harder by a sickly son she had prayed fiercely for every winter to not leave her for the Pearly Gates. The most striking thing about her eyes was, of course, their color, but the broken ring of gold circling each iris was definitely a close second.

When he had asked his own mother what the rings meant, she had told him the story of Sarah Rogers and the Soulmate Ring in a hushed voice. Fortune had seemed to smile upon Sarah Rogers by arranging her meeting and subsequent happy marriage to her soulmate early in her life. But of course, Fate was fickle and snatched away her soulmate shortly after. Bucky had thought the whole thing sounded like a magical and tragic fairytale.

His parents hadn’t had Soulmate Rings. This wasn’t to say that their marriage hadn’t worked fine, but Bucky had worried and wondered what would happen if they ever met their soulmates. Would they split? What would happen to Bucky and his sisters?

Years later, with Bucky chained down on that metal slab in Zola’s mad laboratory ( _like a preview to the main event, fuck—no, no, no, not the arm_ ), staring up at a weird funhouse version of his best friend, the first thing he had noticed hadn’t been Steve’s crazy new body but the ring of gold around his blue eyes.

When they had made it back to camp after a harrowing and exhilarating escape, Bucky had met Stevie’s soulmate, the firecracker Peggy Carter, and his own longing to know his soulmate had only grown. Peggy had been perfect for Steve in every way, supporting and challenging him in turns. Bucky had been happy for him, for them, really, he had been, but that hadn’t changed the loneliness growing in his heart.

And decades later, whole lifetimes later, when Bucky had seen Steve again, the gold ring was still there. It hadn’t been until he had regained enough of his memories to realize that Peggy was so old that the ring would soon be broken. When that happened, Steve’s eyes would really match his mother’s.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

What did it mean that Potts had an unbroken golden ring, but her fella didn’t have any ring at all?

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Bucky was sitting with Steve at their kitchen counter—and how crazy was it that they had a whole floor to themselves, when the last time they had been living together, they could barely afford a tiny room?—reading the news on a tablet, when his eyes alighted on a headline about Stark.

According to the article, Stark had been caught seducing the head of some other tech company’s R&D at last night’s charity gala. Stark’s womanizing ways weren’t that surprising to Bucky—the man was rich and charismatic, what else was he going to do?—rather, it was the fact that his conquest had gold rings in her eyes. The article went on to talk about Stark’s strange fetish for only sleeping with people who had already found their soulmates.

“Is this true?”

Steve looked up from his massive pile of pancakes. “Is what true?”

Bucky showed him the article.

“Oh, that.” Steve’s face scrunched up with distaste. “Stark’s got a weird thing about soulmates. He claims he never wants to meet his. That’s why he never lets anyone not soulmated touch him. As for that particular article, I have no idea if it’s true or not, but I’ve seen him with a number of soulmated women.”

“Well, that explains Potts.”

“Potts?” Steve asked, surprised.

“Yeah, aren’t they together?” Bucky asked, a little less certain about his assumption now.

“Oh no.” Steve chuckled. “They’re best friends. According to Natasha, they met when Pepper was a brand new junior accountant and Tony was the head of R&D. She found an accounting error, but her direct supervisor wouldn’t listen to her, so she stormed up to Tony’s office, and he was so impressed, he hired her on the spot to be his PA.”

Bucky laughed. “A firecracker, that one, eh? Kinda like your Peggy.”

Steve’s smile was soft and wistful. “Yeah, kinda like Peggy.”

“So, who’s her soulmate?”

“A man named Happy Hogan. He used to be a boxer. Happy told me he saved Tony from being jumped in a back alley a while back. So, of course, the very next day, Tony hired him to be his personal driver and bodyguard. And then two or three years ago, Tony made Happy Stark Industries’ head of security. I guess he figured Iron Man didn’t need a bodyguard. And this way, Happy and Pepper get to see each other more. For someone so against soulmates, he’s surprisingly thoughtful about it when the soulmates in question are his friends.”

“I’m kinda sensing a pattern with him. He sorta collects people who do him a favor and then keeps them close.”

“Yeah, he’s got a unique way of making friends.” Steve’s smile was bemused.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Bucky was watching a YouTube video about internal combustion when JARVIS’ voice interrupted him.

“Mister Barnes, Sir is ready for your appointment.” The AI’s accent, though different from Peggy’s, nevertheless, always made Bucky a little nostalgic.

“Thanks, JARVIS.” Bucky paused the video and pushed the button on the side of the tablet that made the screen go dark.

Bucky loved many things about the future, but all the technology everywhere, especially in the Tower, was probably his favorite. The tiny computers and smartphones and holographs—oh, and the Internet! The Internet was the best part. Anybody could learn anything nowadays.

Bucky’s excitement to see Stark’s workshop started to turn into nervousness on the elevator ride down. He wanted to see the cars and robots—oh, boy!—Stevie had talked about, but now that he was actually going to, he started to worry about whether all the machines might trigger Bucky’s memories of Hydra’s labs. He didn’t want to have a flashback, or worse, hurt someone because of the Winter Soldier.

Just as he was about to ask JARVIS to relay his regrets and cancel his appointment, the elevator slid to a smooth, controlled stop and the doors slid open to reveal Stark waiting for him.

The man looked much the way he did when they first met—worn tee shirt with an indecipherable logo made all the more unclear by grease stains, hair matted along one side and sticking straight up on the other, and brown eyes sparkling with life.

“Hey, Robocop, glad you could make it.”

Bucky frowned in thought, and he thought he saw a flash of worry cross Stark’s eyes, before he said, “Shouldn’t _you_ be the Robocop?”

Stark froze, and then laughed long and hard. “I think I like you better than Cap. You’ve got a sense of humor.”

“Stevie’s funny.” Bucky defended.

Stark opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but then swallowed his words, reconsidered, and said, “Eh. Sometimes.” He turned towards the clear doors leading to his workshop and waved Bucky in with manic energy. “Come on, let’s go, we can’t stand around all day! I’ve got your arm to play with. Ooh, and cars to show you! I heard you like cars. Well, I’ve got all kinds, so you’re in for a treat.”

Bucky was mostly silent as Stark led him around the workshop while talking a mile a minute. Stark’s explanations of all his tools and machines were much too fast, not to mention too often derailed by nonsensical tangents, for Bucky to understand most of them, but Bucky liked listening anyway. The immense workshop and everything in it were absolutely fascinating, obviously, but Bucky found his interest strangely captured by their creator as well.

The impromptu mini tour came to an end with Stark gesturing Bucky towards a stuffy couch that looked wildly out of place in this ode to the future.

Stark explained, “I did some reading after Romanov leaked all the SHIELD and Hydra files online to help our Fearless Leader search for you and I uncovered some pretty…um, gruesome stuff. Let’s just say I felt like I had to shower with bleach to feel clean again after all that. But anyways, I thought about installing a medical bed down here for you, but then thought you probably didn’t have great memories of things like that, so I decided to get this instead.” Here, Stark actually bounced a little on the couch and said, “See, it’s super comfortable and gives me full access to your arm.” Then, Stark looked at Bucky expectantly, like a puppy waiting for approval.

Bucky looked at the couch in a new light. Stark was strangely thoughtful for a man who seemed so out of touch with people. Bucky wouldn’t have expected such kindness from anyone who wasn’t Stevie, and especially not from a man whose parents Bucky had— _no, don’t think about that_.

Bucky sat down on the couch and marveled at the softness by running the fingers of his flesh hand over the cushion. Stark got up as soon as Bucky sat down and wheeled a chair over along with a rolling cart of tools. One of his little robots followed behind him with chirps that Bucky thought sounded like curiosity. Could robots be curious? Well, if any could, it would be Stark’s.

Stark gestured absentmindedly to the robot and said, “This is Dummy. I made him to help me out around the lab, but he’s kind of a derp. But don’t worry, I won’t let him work on your arm.”

Dummy came closer and reached out a claw-like appendage to poke at Bucky’s arm. Bucky was actually surprised that he didn’t flinch. Not too long ago, a sentient hunk of high-tech metal touching him would have triggered the Soldier. Or maybe not. Dummy was more like a puppy than a lab assistant. Like creator, like creation.

Bucky poked Dummy back, causing Dummy to rear back in surprise.

“What, you never been poked before? If you’re going to go around poking people, you should expect that not everyone is gonna sit there and take it.”

When Bucky finished admonishing the now contrite-looking ( _how could a robot look contrite, Jesus, the future was weird_ ), he heard a strangled noise coming from Stark. He looked at Stark in alarm, worried that he had crossed some line. Dummy was probably a culmination of insane amounts of time, money, and genius, and here Bucky was scolding him like a recalcitrant toddler. But Bucky needn’t have worried—Stark finally gave up on holding back and started giggling like a loon.

“Oh, man. Nobody has ever talked to my bots like that before.” Unsaid was, _like me, like they were real_.

Bucky rubbed the back of his neck abashedly. “Sorry. Um. Forgot myself a little there.”

Stark’s eyes practically sparkled. “No worries. I like it.”

Bucky wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he just laid himself out on the couch and offered up his metal arm to Stark.

Stark waved the arm aside and said, “I don’t need that yet.” The tone of his voice changed from reassuring to professional as he ordered, “JARVIS, start running diagnostics. Show the analysis. Oh, and also throw in the relevant files on the arm from SHIELD and Hydra.”

Translucent blue holograms started popping up from the top of the tool cart. Bucky watched with awed fascination as Stark grabbed a hologram schematic of his arm and pulled it apart to show the inner workings. Stark was literally manipulating light! Wow, this was aces!

Bucky had of course seen the holograms before around the tower and had even watched Steve command JARVIS to do things like zoom in or zoom out, but he had never seen Steve move them around the way Stark was doing, like he was conducting an orchestra.

“Wow, this is pretty messed up. Better than Stark tech, my ass.” Stark muttered angrily. “Ugh, why are the wires like this? It’s worse than the New York sewer system. Surprised you haven’t blown a fuse by now, actually. The patch work is atrocious. Duct tape might have worked better. Wait, wait, something’s missing here, and here, and—”

Bucky cut in and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “I ripped the trackers and self-destruct out as soon as I remembered they were there.”

Stark’s eyes were wide in his suddenly pale face. “Jesus, Hydra.”

“Yeah, Hydra.” Bucky said grimly.

“Well, it’s good that you got rid of all that junk. But um, there’s a lot of damage. The first battle you got into, the arm would have frozen up and died on you.”

Bucky’s throat went dry. He croaked, “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Yeah, well, not gonna contradict you there, but don’t worry, you’re in great hands.” Here, Stark beamed a showman’s smile with entirely too many teeth. Bucky felt strangely reassured. “Now, there’s another strange thing. All these wires…they’re part of a different system than the wires that power your arm, but I have no idea what they do. Yet.”

Bucky watched Stark puzzle over the system of wires he had highlighted. He had a good guess, but he like watching Stark work, and anyways, it was better to be sure.

“Hmm.” Stark tilted his head with a little furrow of concentration between his eyebrows. “They kind of look like…oh, they’re nerves! They’re hooked up to little sensors on your fingertips. Hmm, that makes sense. You need feedback from pressure sensors so you can hold delicate things and know how hard to punch. They’re very crude, though. Only your hand has sensors and those are only pressure sensors. I could do way better, trust me.”

Bucky found that he did trust Stark, at least with his arm. The thought was kind of startling.

“Let me first fix it so that a little knock won’t shut the whole thing down and then we can talk options.”

Stark hefted the arm onto his lap with a grunt. “This is really, really heavy. JARVIS, show me how it’s attached to Bucky Bear here.”

“Bucky Bear?” Bucky wondered at the endearment. They barely knew each other.

“Huh? Oh, have you never seen a Bucky Bear? JARVIS, show us.” An image of a stuffed bear dressed up in a red and blue uniform showed up. “So, there were all these comics about Captain America and the Howling Commandos after the war. You were reimagined as Cap’s teenage sidekick.”

Back when he had been a kid and he had occasionally had a penny to spare, he had bought a comic or two to share with Stevie. To think that other kids had read comics about the two of them, just two punks from Brooklyn—oh boy! “Wait, why was I a teenage sidekick?”

Stark grinned. “Oh, well, having a teenage sidekick was all the rage. Fictional heroes like Batman had Robin. I guess the writers thought kids might be able to better relate to a teenage sidekick and imagine themselves going on adventures with the great Captain America.”

“Did you read them?” Bucky asked curiously.

A faint flush suffused Stark’s cheeks. Huh, didn’t know Stark could blush.

Stark recovered quickly, clearing his throat and then saying with studied casualness, “Well, obviously. Dad collected anything and everything to do with Cap.”

Stark didn’t sound bitter, but Bucky could read between the lines. No wonder Stark and Steve weren’t close. There was just too much history and Howard between them.

Stark continued, “Anyways, along with the comics came a lot of other merchandise. There were action figures and teddy bears…”

When Bucky looked at the holographs to see why Stark had trailed off, he saw that Stark was staring in horror at an x-ray image of Bucky’s shoulder joint.

Stark said in a hollow tone of voice, “You must be in pain all the time. The arm is directly grafted to your rib cage. The only reason you’re even standing is probably because of the serum. And your nerves—they’re all just…I have no words. We need to get a neurologist. Look, I know this great lady, Helen Cho. And Brucie! JARVIS, get me Dr. Cho on the line and bring Bruce to me.”

“Sir, Doctor Banner is in blackout mode.”

“What does that mean?” Bucky asked.

“Blackout mode basically means no visitors, no messages, no notifications—nothing from outside the room or floor where you are. JARVIS, what set him off?”

“An invitation to a Soulmate Ceremony, Sir.”

“Why would—oh,” Stark startled with realization. He sighed, “Betty.”

It was unusual to see Stark so subdued. Bucky was confused but didn’t think he should ask.

After a long pause, Stark blew out a frustrated breath, “Soulmates suck. The whole thing is so stupid! It takes away freewill. You can’t just love and be with whoever—if you meet your soulmate, it’s like, bam! You’re stuck with this person forever. And you can forget about whoever you were with before you were struck by destiny or some such nonsense. The fucking law can make you divorce someone and marry your soulmate, just like that!”

Bucky watched Stark’s rant, enraptured. Each word was like a flint against stone—Stark’s dark eyes sparked to match.

“You don’t believe Plato’s theory of soulmates? That finding your soulmate is finding happiness?”

“Yeah, yeah, Plato’s theory: we were each originally one half of a larger being. Two halves make a whole soul. Then, the whole was split. So now everyone’s looking for their other half and to find that other half is to find true happiness. Well, what if the greater being you were a part of had a lot of self-hatred, huh? Then what?” Stark’s eyes bored into Bucky’s, as if challenging him to answer.

Bucky couldn’t look away from Stark’s intensity and vehemence. He didn’t know what to say.

Stark continued, “You’ll probably just end up hating your soulmate and hurting each other and making each other miserable. My parents were soulmates. To say they didn’t get along is putting it mildly.”

Bucky’s basis for soulmates was Steve and Peggy. But if Stark’s was his fighting parents, then yeah, Bucky could see how he could be against soulmates.

Stark was really gathering steam. “Or, if your whole soul’s in balance but you’re just plain fucking evil. That means bad people end up with bad people. I know one thing: I’m not a good guy. I’ve done some terrible things and I’ve got crazy baggage. So what does that mean for me?”

Bucky’s heart broke. He knew what it was like to have done terrible, terrible things. He had Stark beat on that front, and also on the crazy baggage front, too.

“And, here’s another thought: there are plenty of people who want me for what I can give them or only want a part of me—gold diggers and corporate rivals and Ironman fans or Tony Stark fans. If my soulmate turns out to be one of those, I’ll still have to marry them. No matter how you look at it, the chances of the whole soulmate business ending in happiness for me are pretty slim.”

Stark’s conception of soulmates was so bleak. But honestly, why wouldn’t it be?

Before the Winter Soldier, Bucky had been a simple man. Stark, on the other hand, had so many facets. He was the Tony Stark—marketed with the tagline “genius, playboy, billionaire, philanthropist”. It was his image and it was a part of him, but it was also just the surface. He was Ironman, an Avenger himself but also the Avengers’ mechanic. He was his company’s Head of R&D, responsible for coming up with new innovations and keeping his company running.

And then there was just Tony.

Bucky didn’t know that man yet, but he kind of wanted to.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Steve kept a box of things people, namely Stark, gave him that he couldn’t figure out or didn’t really want. In it, Bucky had found a multi-colored cube, which Steve had explained was a game. The only goal seemed to be to arrange the cube so that all six sides were only of one color. For a game with such simple rules, it was truly confounding.

This was how Stark found him.

“Hey, Frosty!”

Bucky looked up just in time to catch whatever it was that Stark had thrown at him. It turned out to be a bear wearing a black leather uniform with many straps. The left arm was silver with a little red star.

“I thought you said Bucky Bears wore a red and blue uniform, like in the comics?” Bucky asked, even though other words swarmed in his head. _Is this for me? Why are you giving it to me?_

Stark fidgeted a bit before saying, “Well, I thought this design was more relevant.”

Bucky wondered if that meant this bear was custom-made. The thought that someone who barely knew him had put in so much effort to make something just for him spread warmth through him. Bucky ruffled his hand through the silky soft fur in wonder.

Stark let out a breath of relief. “So, I’m guessing you like it.” Then his small smile turned into a flashy grin. “Of course you like it! Don’t listen to Pepper, I’m great at giving gifts.”

Bucky said, “Thanks, Stark.”

“Call me Tony.”

Bucky smiled softly. “Thanks, Tony. You can call me Bucky.”

At Bucky’s offer, Stark—no, Tony—looked delighted, but like he was trying to hide it.

To lighten the moment, Bucky added, “Well, if you ever stop with the nicknames.”

Tony smirked. “Never.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Bucky started hanging out in the workshop more and more. At first, it was so that Tony and Dr. Banner and Dr. Cho could fuss over his arm and figure out how to design a better one. Later, it was so he could visit the Dum-E and the other two bots, who also took an immediate liking to him and his shiny metal arm. And maybe to visit their inventor, too, but Bucky never said so and Tony never called him on it.

Bucky liked being able to sit in an unobtrusive corner and just watch Tony create. It was very peaceful. Bucky never felt like he was getting in the way or that Tony expected much out of him. Stevie was wonderful, the best friend a man could ask for, but Bucky often felt like he was holding Steve back from the rest of his life whenever Steve stayed with him to keep him company.

Sometimes, Banner came down to work on Bucky’s arm or something else with Tony. For some reason, Bucky didn’t warm up to Banner like he had with Tony. Banner was kind and gentle, but Bucky preferred Tony’s abrasive energy, always engaging Bucky with jokes or questions or just idle chatter.

Steve had explained about Banner’s special condition. Bucky understood what it was like to have another part of himself that he feared and hated. It was something he shared with the doctor, but Bucky didn’t really want to bond over that, so he stayed silent whenever Banner was around.

Tony poked and prodded at Banner without fear of the Hulk, much the way he did to Bucky without fear of the Winter Soldier. Tony was a genius, so it couldn’t be because he was stupid. That meant he knew all the risks and was brave anyway. Bucky liked that about Tony.

Bucky always got a weird feeling in his gut when he saw Tony interact with Banner. It took him awhile to realize he was worried that Tony treated him so nicely just because he was like Banner—someone others feared and Tony didn’t, someone damaged that maybe an enterprising little engineer could fix. And here Bucky thought he was special.

It was unfair to Banner and Tony to be so irrationally jealous and possessive, but Bucky couldn’t stop himself. He figured as long as he didn’t act on his impulses and accidentally hurt anyone, he was good.

Today, Bucky was beta testing some games Tony had designed. Tony had seen him twice more puzzling over the multi-colored cube before he had declared that he had better things than an old toy like that. Before Bucky had known what was going on, Tony had shoved a tablet and a bin of games to test into his hands.

Bucky paused the adventure game he was currently in the middle of and stood up to stretch. He was used to spending hours, even days, in a sniper’s nest waiting for the perfect moment to shoot his target, but outside of the job, he was no good at sitting still. Tony spun around on his work chair to face Bucky, no doubt having sensed Bucky’s restless movement.

“Getting bored?”

Not wanting Tony to get offended, he said, “Nah, it’s pretty swell. Just don’t like sitting still for too long.”

Tony nodded in understanding. “Want to do something else?” Before Bucky could reply, he went on, “I just got this sweet-looking ’67 Impala in this morning. It needs a few parts and a tune up. Wanna work on it together?”

Bucky nodded vigorously. Tony had so many cars and each one looked like speed incarnate even in stillness. Bucky didn’t think he’d ever get to touch, let alone work on, them.

Tony laughed at his enthusiasm. He started heading towards the cars lined at the back of the workshop. When Bucky didn’t immediately follow, Tony waved him over while throwing him an outrageous wink and saying, “Come on, then, let’s get dirty.”

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

This was Bucky’s first battle with the Avengers and it was the most ridiculous thing Bucky had ever been a part of.

He had sat out on the previous few Avengers’ calls, not really sure he was in the right state of mind to be fighting even though he had been cleared by a whole barrage of shrinks. He had been worried the Winter Soldier would somehow be triggered into making a reappearance. Besides that, Bucky had wondered if he even wanted to fight anymore. Feeling utterly helpless while watching the Avengers fight without him had answered that question.

But back to this battle. They were literally fighting unicorns with wings that sang songs that put people to sleep. Fucking unicorns. With wings. That sang. What even was his life?

Lullabies were hardly a cause for great concern. Normally. But having huge parts of the New York City populace suddenly drop down unconscious in the middle of whatever they were doing could cause all kinds of havoc, like cars without drivers or patients without surgeons.

Since the winged unicorns weren’t doing anything overtly malicious or aggressive, the Avengers plus Bucky were hesitant to strike them down. Most of the team was focused on damage control with the sleeping civilian population. The only reason they weren’t down on the ground sleeping, too, was because Ironman had figured out early on that the sleeping was caused by a unique frequency, which could be counteracted by having their comms emit another frequency.

Thor had left earlier by way of Bifrost to see if Heimdall could beam the unicorns back to wherever they came from. Hulk was preoccupied with trying to pet the “pretty horses” while Ironman was busy trying to pinpoint from where and why the unicorns had appeared.

Ironman’s voice came over the comms. “Aha! I knew it! Another point for pure genius!”

Bucky interrupted with a drawl, “Well, it’s either pure genius or hot air. Care to enlighten the rest of us, Tinman?”

Ironman laughed with delight. “Ah, yes! Another banterer. See, Cap, this is how it should be. Even your best bud is on my side.”

Captain America sighed, but Bucky could tell the sigh was tinged with fondness. “Just tell us already.”

Ironman’s voice was all business as he said, “Energy readings show that there was a spike somewhere nearby, indicative of a portal opening and closing. If the unicorns opened the portal themselves, I have tech back at the Tower that can send them back. It just needs to be calibrated to the original portal’s energy signature. If someone Earth side did it, we just have to find whatever they used to open the portal and then just open it again ourselves.”

Bucky’s temporary Avengers card beeped. He pulled it out and saw coordinates, presumably for the source of the portal energy readings.

Ironman said, “Alright, guys, I’m heading over to the coordinates. I’ll be done in a sec.”

Black Widow said dryly, “That simple, eh?”

“Murder Barbie, I already did the hard part. Are you going to make me do everything?”

Hawkeye chuckled. “Ironman, you sure are dumb or real willing to go ball-less, baiting Widow like that.”

Ironman faked alarm. “Oh man, Widow, don’t cut off my balls, I need those.”

Widow said, “Stop giving me ideas and shut up so I can cover your six.”

“Surely me talking and you having my back are not mutually exclusive?”

Widow’s next report over the comms was strictly professional. “There’s a warehouse over the coordinates. Ironman and I are heading in.”

There was several minutes of radio silence. Bucky stopped another runaway driverless car by punching his fist through the front engine block. He went around to the driver’s side, scooped out the sleeping driver, and laid her out on the sidewalk. He patrolled past another block for accidents he could avert before the comms came back to life.

“So, it seems that we’re dealing with a cult here. Well, if four members can be called a cult. Judging from what Widow and I overheard, they opened the portal so that the unicorns could put an end to all the misery and suffering that is the collective human experience. Which, I mean, come on, I know there’s a lot of shit in the world, but pulling a Rip van Winkle is surely not the way to go.”

Captain America asked, “Can you reopen the portal?”

“Sure thing. Widow already did her thighs of death thing and knocked all the cult members out. I’m looking at the machine right now. It’s a total mess. Not that I’m surprised or anything, given that the engineering must have been done by someone in the happy time cult. It looks too unstable to be reactivated without some tweaking and way too bulky for me to move. Wait…shit! Shit! Widow, this thing’s going to blow! I’ve got the prisoners. Move, move, move!”

When Bucky tried to recall everything that happened after Ironman’s dire message later, all he remembered was a series of snapshots.

Bucky was off running towards the coordinates as soon as he heard the first curse from Ironman. The Hulk roared somewhere.

As Bucky closed in on the warehouse, he saw Widow leap from the roof of the warehouse and the Hulk reach up to catch her. Ironman lifted off the roof unsteadily holding onto four unconscious robe-clad figures, only able to use his boot thrusters. A loud explosion and fireball followed after Widow and Ironman.

And in the silence that followed, two loud gasps of shock came from the Hulk and Widow alike. Bucky turned to see what had happened and was met with two pairs of golden rings, one much larger than the other.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

As soon as the last of the armor was removed from his body, Tony started pacing angrily back and forth. Bucky didn’t know what to say, for Tony could have been angered by any of a number of things: the machine exploding on Tony’s watch, Tony not being able to carry Widow and the prisoners at the same time so that she had to leap to safety herself, the solution finally being carried out by Thor and the Bifrost rather than Tony’s science, and of course, Banner and Natalia—

“Fucking soulmates! My science bro deserves better. He doesn’t need someone who’s scared of him and distrusts him. Why the fuck would his other half be a fucking spy of all things, and not just any spy, but the queen of all spies. Green bean already has a gazillion trust issues. He needs someone who understands him and likes him for who he is, Hulk and all. He needs a fellow scientist, not a triple agent.”

Bucky heard what Tony wasn’t saying in the midst of his rant. _He deserves me. I’m a scientist. I’m his science bro. I like the Hulk. I love and trust him. I should be his soulmate._

Bucky had no idea how Tony must be feeling now, having the chance to be with his love ripped away by Fate’s design. Tony must hate the idea of soulmates even more now.

Bucky didn’t know what to say, but he wanted to offer something, no matter how useless. “I know this is cold comfort, but…I thought you liked Natalia? Maybe they’ll be good for each other.”

Tony collapsed into his work chair and let out a huge sigh. “I do like Natasha. But I just don’t think they’re right for each other. It’s not only that I don’t think Natasha’s any good for Bruce—I don’t think Bruce is any good for Natasha. She needs someone she can be open with, someone she can shed the masks for. She needs someone who doesn’t fear her and can trust her. And most of all she needs someone who won’t run away from problems. And I hate to badmouth my bro, but Bruce definitely has a long history of running away when things get heavy enough that he thinks the Hulk’s going to get triggered and go on a rampage.”

Tony slumped further into his chair, dejection all over his face. “See, this is why I hate soulmates. Maybe, against all odds, they’ll help each other out and smooth down each other’s jagged edges, but why should they have to? Just because they turned out to soulmates, now they _have_ to figure out how to work together so that they can stay together. They might have gotten together anyway, but now they _have_ to. It’s just not fair.”

Bucky was helpless in the face of a broken heart.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

“So, how do you like it?” Tony asked, while gesturing with a broad sweep of their surroundings.

Earlier today, in the middle of the two of them working on the ’67 Impala, Tony had invited Bucky to a prototype car show. Bucky had leapt at the chance to get out of the Tower and spend some more time with Tony doing something he loved.

Bucky looked around at all the futuristic—even by today’s standards—cars and smiled widely. “It’s really great. Thanks for inviting me, Tony.”

Tony beamed brightly. “No problem, Buckaroo, totally my pleasure. Besides, you’re the only one of the team that likes cars as much as I do.”

They wandered around from car to car at a leisurely stroll.

While eyeing an innovative engine system, Tony asked absently, “So, how’s the rest of the team been, do you know? I’ve spent the last few days holed up in the workshop, so I have no idea. I haven’t even seen Brucie!”

Bucky coughed awkwardly. “Well, Dr. Banner and Natalia are on a double date with Steve. Um, Natalia set him up with a former SHIELD agent. Steve didn’t want to go, but he felt bad saying no to Natalia.”

Tony grinned with delight. “Cap on a date? Oh man, I wish I could see that.”

Bucky grunted. “Punk’s got no game, but he wins the ladies over with his manners. They think the awkward bashfulness and puppy eyes are cute.”

Tony frowned in thought. “Huh. I could picture that. Not my bag, but whatever works.”

Bucky laughed. “‘Not your bag’…well, you couldn’t pull off the innocent look in a million years.”

“No, I meant that whether I’m being wooed or doing the wooing, I like somebody who knows what they want and aren’t shy about it.”

“I guess the same goes for me, too.”

They wandered some more while Bucky chewed on whether he wanted to say what he was thinking.

He finally decided to just spit it out. “You know, you’re being real big about Banner and Natalia.”

Tony turned around with a look of confusion. “What do you mean? Because they’re soulmates? Well, you were right, they seem to be working out. They’re actually disgustingly cute together.”

Bucky wondered if it was worth it to clarify and drag out the topic. Well, he had already gotten this far, to stop now would only confuse Tony further. “No, on account of Banner being taken by someone else. It takes a lot of strength to be the bigger man and not spite Natalia for it.”

The frown of confusion deepened. “What are you talking about?”

Bucky wasn’t sure if Tony was pretending confusion to hide his hurt or if Tony had genuinely thought he wasn’t being obvious about his crush on Bruce. “Shit, was I not supposed to know?”

“Know what?”

Bucky swallowed and said haltingly, “Your thing for Banner?”

“Wait, what? My thing for Bruce? I don’t have a thing for Bruce!” Tony started laughing. “Why do you think I have a thing for Bruce?”

Was Tony in denial? He didn’t seem like it. The only option was that Bucky was totally off base. Again. Like he had been with Potts.

Bucky was blushing so hard he was sure he could light something on fire. Still, he tried to defend himself, “You got real passionate about the whole soulmate thing after you found out Banner was in blackout mode because of a Soulmate Ceremony and someone named Betty. And then you got even more fired up after Banner and Natalia bonded. You said Banner deserved someone who wasn’t afraid of the Hulk and someone who was a scientist. That perfectly describes you!”

Tony started laughing harder and harder through Bucky’s explanation until he was almost bawling. Bucky would have felt indignant if he wasn’t so embarrassed.

Tony finally calmed himself and said, “Oh man, I haven’t laughed like that in ages. Thanks for that.” He cleared his throat at Bucky’s glare and said more seriously, “Betty Ross and Bruce used to be together before the whole Hulk incident. They went on the run together after it, but eventually split up. Bruce has been holding a torch for her all these years. But then Betty found her soulmate. I was mad because my science bro was upset. And then I was being unfair to Natasha by comparing her to Betty and turning all her differences into disadvantages. In hindsight, maybe it’s better that Natasha’s so different from Bruce’s first love, since he and Betty didn’t work out even before she got soulmated.”

“Oh, I see.” Bucky said in a small voice.

Tony clapped a hand to Bucky’s shoulder, the mechanical one—Tony never seemed bothered by it and never took pains to avoid it—and said, “Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. You didn’t know about Betty so you didn’t know all the facts. Anybody could have made the same mistake.”

Surprisingly, Bucky actually felt a little comforted by Stark’s words.

Tony’s hand slipped down the jacket sleeve over Bucky’s mechanical arm to grab ahold of Bucky’s hand. “Come on, I saved the best for last.”

Tony dragged Bucky towards a car on a dais in the back. Bucky allowed himself to be led. Even though Bucky couldn’t feel as well with his mechanical hand as with his flesh hand, he could still feel the pressure of Tony’s hand around his. Nobody other than Steve casually touched him like this. It was so wonderful that he almost missed what Tony wanted to show him.

Tony gestured with a grand flourish to the show’s centerpiece. “This was designed by my baby ducklings in R&D. Well, with a little input from me. But it’s mostly them! Isn’t it great?”

Bucky looked away from Tony’s sparkling eyes with some reluctance. The car before them was all sleek lines. It looked like a panther waiting to pounce. The leather seats inside looked fantastically luxurious and the dashboard seemed to consist of translucent images on the windshield itself. Bucky looked at the specs for speed and such on the little sign next to the car and was duly impressed.

Bucky looked back at Tony and grinned. “Beautiful.” He wasn’t just talking about the car.

Tony grinned back. “Right? My baby ducklings are the best!”

Bucky asked, amused, “Baby ducklings?”

“Oh, they’re people I personally scouted or students who got Maria Stark’s Grant for Young Scholars. They’re much better than the rest of R&D. They’re meant to come up with great innovations, and not just in the matter of luxury cars. Some of them are working on vaccine distribution. Another group is working on a cheap and effective water filtration system.”

Bucky watched as Tony seemed to light up like a proud parent as he talked about his “baby ducklings”. Bucky was used to seeing Tony become passionate over his frustration with soulmates, but it was even better to see Tony become passionate over something that made him happy. The light in Tony’s eyes was a softer version of the manic light he got in the workshop when he was furiously working on this design or that. Bucky was entranced.

“Do you want to go on a date with me?”

Bucky was so lost in Tony’s eyes and words—and everything—that he didn’t even realize he’d said anything until Tony stopped and stared at him in shock. He reviewed what had happened in the last minute and paled in horror.

Why would Tony ever want to date Bucky? Tony only stepped out with people who were already soulmated just so he wouldn’t accidentally bond with them. The chances of Tony being Bucky’s soulmate were low, considering that Bucky’s soulmate should have been born around the same time he was and so was either long gone or almost there. Even so, Tony must not want any chance at all for them to bond, and Bucky didn’t blame him. Bucky was a one-armed assassin, formerly Hydra’s fist, with a spotty memory and the potential to lose control and go on a rampage at any time. Who would want to share a life with someone like him?

So, imagine Bucky’s surprise when Tony said, “Sure.”

“Wait, really?” Bucky asked, amazed and not entirely sure he wasn’t dreaming.

Tony smirked. “Don’t you know how good-looking you are? And not everyone likes hanging out with me in my workshop and fixing cars. And just so you know, you look great in a beater with grease and sweat all over. Do I have to go on? I feel like now you’re just fishing for compliments or pulling Steve’s shy act.” Tony smiled to soften his words.

Bucky pulled himself together and applied a little 40’s charm. “You ain’t so bad yourself, doll.”

The sound of Tony’s laughter followed into Bucky’s dreams that night.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

After further discussion, Tony and Bucky agreed that they would set aside a whole day for their date so that Tony wouldn’t end up late to their date because he was working. Bucky was to choose the activity of the day as he was the one who asked Tony on a date, and then Tony would choose where to go for dinner.

So, on the day of the date, Bucky made breakfast and brought it to Tony’s bedroom in the hopes that grease and caffeine would entice Tony to not sleep the day away as he was wont to do. The sight of Tony blinking groggily back to consciousness was too adorable for words. Bucky told Tony as much and Tony scowled at him. Bucky was even smitten with Tony’s grumpy expression. He was really gone, so gone that he didn’t even care that his head was filled with foolish thoughts.

Tony grabbed the coffee mug and swallowed down several large gulps. The eyes that peered over the rim of the cup at Bucky were much more awake now.

Tony said softly, “Thanks for this, Bucky, you really didn’t have to.”

Bucky grinned, proud that his overture was so well received. “I wanted to.”

Tony moved onto the scrambled eggs and bacon. “Wow, this is really good. I can’t finish all of this. You want some?”

Bucky sat down, careful not to sit so close that they might accidentally touch, and started in on the morning feast as well.

“I’ve actually never had breakfast in bed that wasn’t room service. So, you’re already winning and the day has barely started.”

Bucky felt like a lion had taken up in his chest, so fierce was his desire to roar his victory.

After breakfast, Bucky drove them down to Coney Island in their newly fixed ’67 Impala. Bucky had chosen Coney Island because it was one of the few places Bucky remembered with fondness from his life before the fall and it was close by.

They proceeded to spend the next several hours gorging themselves on funnel-cake and all other manner of deep-fried things and then almost making themselves sick by going on rollercoasters.

After the last ride, Tony hugged his stomach and said, “No more. I can’t take anymore.”

“Let’s just walk around then. Maybe I can win you something at one of the games.”

Without thinking, he held out his flesh hand for Tony to take. Tony paused at the sight of his outstretched hand. He deliberately reached out to take Bucky’s metal hand.

At the sight of Bucky’s wounded expression, Tony explained, “It’s just not habit for me to touch people who aren’t bonded or who I haven’t known for very long. Look, I like you. A lot. I wouldn’t hang out with you so much if I didn’t. But in this case, it’s honestly not you, it’s me.” When Bucky didn’t look much better, he softened and said, “Just give me a little more time, okay?”

Bucky didn’t want to pressure Tony into doing something he didn’t want just to make Bucky happy. He smiled genuinely and said, “Take all the time you want. Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart.”

Tony grinned back at him and let Bucky tug him towards a game booth. Bucky naturally decimated all the games.

Tony said, while holding onto two round pillows, one of his arc reactor and another of Captain America’s shield, “Come on, Bucky, I can’t hold any more prizes, and you gotta leave some for the kids, too.”

Bucky turned away from the worried-looking booth keeper and said, “Alright, sugar, whatever you say. You want to try?”

Tony handed over the fuzzy pillows, squared his shoulders, and said, “Just you watch, I’ll get you that massive Hulk bear over there.”

The sight on the toy gun was awful, but Tony did a decent job of compensating for it. Even so, he ended up being rewarded with a little Ironman action figure instead a giant angry green bear. He handed it over with a blush of embarrassment on his face.

Bucky examined the plastic toy. “Honestly, I like Ironman better anyway.”

Tony beamed at him.

“I think we’re about done here. Wanna head out to dinner? What are we having?” Bucky was a little worried that Tony had booked them an atrociously expensive restaurant with too many utensils and tiny platters of indiscernible food.

Bucky needn’t have worried. Tony drove them to a little fusion restaurant not far from the Tower. Even though they were still stuffed from all the greasy fair food, the Korean barbeque beef burgers were too good to pass up. They stayed talking all the way until closing.

Bucky drove them back and then walked Tony up to his bedroom door. Normally, he would try for a kiss at this point. Instead, he squeezed Tony’s hand a little with his metal one and then bade him goodnight.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

They had many more dates after that, at least twice a week. They went to an old noir drive through movie. They had a picnic on the Tower’s roof. They cooked dinner for each other. They went to the beach. They basically did every sappy romantic cliché they could think of.

They still hung out in the workshop. Tony made Bucky beta test all sorts of things. He even set Bucky up with a little work table of his own so he could tinker. Bucky had almost started crying when he had seen it.

Their dates weren’t always big productions. Sometimes they just got takeout and camped out in front of the penthouse living room TV to help Bucky catch up on all the pop culture he had missed while under Hydra’s control. Today was one of those times.

When the movie ended, Bucky turned to Tony to see him deep in thought.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Tony focused on him and cracked a smile. “I’m a billionaire. I don’t need a penny. Besides, inflation’s been crazy since your time. A penny can’t buy anything anymore.”

“Well, tell me anyway?”

Tony took a deep breath, blew it out, and then stiffened his spine. “I’m ready.”

Bucky wanted to ask, _ready for what?_ And then he saw Tony’s steady hand stretched out to him, palm up like an offer. The enormity of this moment hit Bucky like a sucker punch. With a shaky breath, Bucky reached out to touch the fingertips of his flesh hand to Tony’s palm.

The moment of contact felt like being struck by lightning and being in the most soothing warm bath at the same time. It was electric. It was bliss. Bucky’s universe was imploding and then expanding inwards and outwards all at the same time.

When he came back to himself, his eyes were immediately drawn to the golden rings around Tony’s beautiful brown eyes. He knew his eyes must have rings now, too. They stared at each other in shock.

Bucky had always wanted a soulmate, but he had never imagined it would be Tony, the first and only person he had ever fallen in love with. He would have loved Tony either way, as proved by strength of his emotion even before the bond, but the bond was just the icing on top of the cake. Bucky felt like the luckiest guy in the world.

Shock was starting to fade and happiness was filling the space it left behind. Bucky moved to kiss Tony, wanting to share his delight. But Tony flinched back. Bucky opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Tony leapt off the couch and fled into an open elevator.

Bucky watched the empty space where Tony had disappeared, numb and hollow as happiness fled as well.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Watching Stevie get all righteous and angry was a sight to behold. Slap his Captain America uniform on him and he would make a pretty propaganda poster. Steve was so apoplectic he couldn’t even speak. His face was bright red as he paced in front of Bucky with relentless fury.

“Stop it, Stevie. I knew going in that Tony was dead set against the idea of soulmates. Heck, we all knew that. Even the media knows. I was a fool to think I would be the thing that would change his mind. Why would he want me to be his forever? I’m a broken mess of a Hydra experiment.”

“You stop it, Buck. He’s the fool if he can’t see what a swell fella you are. You, James Buchanan Barnes, are the noblest and bravest man I know. You’re worth way more than Stark and I’m going give him a talking to until he sees sense.”

Before Bucky could stop Steve from storming off and breaking Tony’s nose, he heard the last voice he thought he’d hear.

“Wow, a ‘Captain America is Disappointed in you’ speech, eh?”

Bucky and Steve whirled around to see Tony standing awkwardly at the doorway. Tony looked awful, eyes red-rimmed and face pale and haggard. Bucky’s heart ached to see his soulmate like this.

Steve opened his mouth, no doubt to give Tony a sound verbal thrashing, maybe with a few punches thrown in for good measure.

Tony forestalled Steve’s words with a raised hand. “Look, I know I was a real jerk yesterday. But I had my panic attack and thought things through. Now, I’m ready to talk to Bucky, but this is between me and him.”

Steve’s jaw snapped shut. He glared at Tony. “Alright, but you better beg for forgiveness real nice or I’m going to find you later.”

He turned on his heel and left after one last look of camaraderie towards Bucky.

Now that Steve was gone, the room boiled with awkward tension.

Since Tony didn’t seem to want to speak, Bucky said, “Look, I don’t think you need to apologize to me about anything. You let me know very clearly upfront that you didn’t want a soulmate. It’s not your fault that I’ve always wanted one or that we ended up bonding. Just give me some time and I’ll get over it.”

The last was a lie, but Tony didn’t need to know that.

Tony came and sat next to Bucky on the sofa. “No, Steve was right, I should say sorry. And he was right about more than that, too. You’re worth more than me.”

Tony raised his hand to stop Bucky’s protests. “No, let me finish. I offered my hand because I liked you so much I thought I wouldn’t mind if you turned out to be my soulmate on the off chance. I have a lot of issues when it comes to soulmates, so I panicked when it turned out we actually were soulmates against all odds. I just needed to have some time to get over my initial panic and think things through like the rational adult I generally like to pretend I’m not.”

Bucky was so happy to hear that Tony liked him and didn’t mind being soulmates, but he latched onto something else as well. “I’m not worth more than you. If anything, it’s the other way around. You gave me a life I never could have hoped to imagine coming out the other side of the Winter Soldier. You’re brave and generous and so, so brilliant, I’m in awe of your brain. And you’re good-looking and cute to boot.” At this, Bucky winked cheekily.

Tony smiled brightly. “Never really heard anyone call me brave or generous. And I haven’t been called cute since I was a kid.” He sobered. “You’ve heard me worrying that my soulmate was going to be a gold digger or a fame grubber or a corporate spy because with my luck and the shit I’ve done, I figured that’s what my soul deserved. I honestly didn’t think you’d ever be my soulmate. You’re so strong you defeated seventy years of brainwashing. You’re Captain America’s right hand and best friend, the guy every kid wanted to be, including me.”

Bucky reached for Tony’s hands, where they were twisting around each other in Tony’s lap like nervous snakes, with his flesh one. He felt like he had swallowed the sun when Tony allowed Bucky to take his hand. Bucky had never touched Tony skin to skin before, not counting that brief second when they bonded, which he didn’t even remember anyway.

Holding Tony’s hand gave Bucky the strength to say, “Well, maybe we deserve each other, then. Maybe we need people who think better of ourselves than we do.”

“Maybe we do.”

Tony’s smile was so lovely Bucky couldn’t help but lean in to taste it.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

After they resolved their bonding, Tony started taking Bucky on ever more extravagant dates. They spent a weekend in the Maldives. They spent another weekend in Paris.

When Bucky grumbled about the opulence, Tony explained that he wanted to make his soulmate feel special, which meant he had to treat him better than any date he had ever had before. Bucky replied that fancy food and fancy hotels didn’t appeal to him, but if he could have one wish granted by Tony, it would be to go flying with Tony in the suit. Tony happily complied.

After each date, they would kiss each other goodnight and go their separate ways. It was maddening. Tony’s kisses were wonderful and Bucky didn’t think he’d ever grow tired of receiving them, but he wondered why Tony was holding back. Where was Tony’s notorious playboy nature? Did he think Bucky was so old-fashioned that he would have to be courted for weeks on end?

After one such date, they had ended up on Tony’s couch making out like teenagers. At least there was some heavy groping. Bucky had hopes that it might lead to something more, or he did until Tony pulled away. Tony pulling away was always the first sign of their chaste goodnight ritual.

Bucky sighed. “You know you don’t have to keep waiting for sex, right? I love the dates, I really do, but you don’t have to keep leaving at the end of the night. I’m not some blushing maiden worried about her virtue.”

Tony’s face went from happily flushed to blank with alarming speed. “Oh, right, sex.”

Tony bent over and began unbuttoning Bucky’s fly with frightening precision. The mood had suddenly changed and Bucky didn’t know why. He definitely knew there was something wrong, though. He grabbed Tony’s shoulders and pushed him back.

“What are you doing?”

Tony’s face was no longer blank, simply confused. “I thought that this was what you wanted.”

“Only if you want it!” Bucky cried. “I thought you were holding back out of some gentlemanly consideration for forties sensibilities, which honestly weren’t that sensible. Look, I’ve clearly read the situation wrong. Tell me what’s going on, please, darling.”

Tony leaned further away, scuffed a hand through his wild hair, and sighed. He said petulantly, “I could have given you a great blowjob. Everyone says I’m good at it.”

Bucky twitched a little, but he firmly told his dick to put a lid on it. “Yeah, but did you actually want to do it?”

Tony shrugged. “Why does that matter? Not everyone likes giving blowjobs. They just do it to make their partner feel good.”

Bucky felt like they were having two different conversations. He felt like he was missing something. “We could do something else? Whatever you want.”

“But that’s the problem, I don’t want anything!”

“What do you mean? Come on, you can tell me anything. No matter how strange you think it is, I’d be willing to hear you out at least.” Bucky pulled Tony closer to snuggle him and nearly sighed in relief when Tony came without resistance. “Babe, it’s no fun for me if you’re not having fun, too.”

Tony said, frustration evident in his voice, “Then we’re going to have a problem. I actually really and truly don’t want anything. I’m not just playing coy. Why don’t you just let me make you happy? If you’re happy, I’m happy.”

Bucky was thoroughly confused by now. How could a man not want anything to do with sex? After a few moments of puzzling it over himself, he finally admitted his confusion. “Darling, I’m honestly confused. Is there something, um…?”

“No, there’s nothing wrong with me.” Tony heaved another sigh. “I hate labels, but I guess it’s hard to be clear without them. I guess you could say I’m gray asexual. It means I can have a healthy libido without wanting to do anything about it with anyone. I find a lot of people aesthetically pleasing, but it’s not all that often that I feel physical attraction and want to act on it.”

Bucky frowned thoughtfully as he absorbed this new information. “But, what about all the women in the gossip rags? I’m not saying you’re lying, really I’m not, I believe you, but I’m confused.”

“Oh, that. Well, just because sex doesn’t do much for me, doesn’t mean it often repulses me either, so I can have sex with people. When I was younger, I thought the fact that I wasn’t attracted to that many people just meant I hadn’t slept with the right person, so I did sleep around lot back then. But most of the women you see in the tabloids are just women I’m caught talking to a lot at this or that gala. I maybe actually sleep with someone once or twice a year. Most of the time I just take an interesting woman or man out on the town or back to my place to talk science.”

“Oh, I see.”

This was kind of an unusual bump in the road, but not nearly so big that he couldn’t easily keep going. He just needed to adjust a few things he thought he knew in his head. Not being able to have sex with Tony was no big deal, not when he got to hold Tony’s hand and cuddle him close and kiss him for hours.

Tony was looking at him apprehensively. “Is this going to be a problem?”

“Not at all, sweetheart. I thought you were holding back on my account and I was getting kinda nervous and frustrated wondering when you were going to finally make a move. It’s no big deal that you’re never going to make a move.”

Tony grinned with relief. “Well, not never. I’ll probably want to fuck your brains out at least a few times somewhere down the road.”

Bucky grinned back. “I look forward to it, but if it never happens, I’m content anyway. Besides, the best things come in small doses.”

Tony stood up and started pulling Bucky towards his bedroom. “Even though we’re not going to be up to naked shenanigans, want to sleep together anyway?”

Bucky smiled so wide he thought his face would split. “It would be my pleasure.” With a wicked smirk, he said, “And who said we can’t get up to shenanigans with our clothes on?”

Tony laughed. “I love you.” He paused and looked surprised at his words.

Before Tony could take it back or start to doubt, Bucky replied, “I love you.”

Tony melted into his embrace.

 

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

 

Bucky was down in the workshop building a little robot dog as a present for Tony for their anniversary. Tony could probably build something better himself, but hopefully he would like Bucky’s dog just because Bucky made it.

Bucky was startled out of his concentration when he felt someone wrap their arms around his waist and snuggle into his back. He grasped Tony’s—for who else could it be?—hands with his own and leaned back into his soulmate.

“What’s up?”

“What do you think?” At this, Tony rolled his hips for emphasis.

Bucky gasped when he felt something hard poke him in the backside. He whirled around to see Tony looking at him mischievously. “Wait, really?”

Tony swooped forward to embrace Bucky. “Really, really.”

Bucky scooped Tony up and started racing for the elevator. “Have I told you how much I love you lately?”

Tony’s laughter followed them all the way up to their bedroom until Bucky started making him let loose different sounds.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have actually sewn the Captain America pillow Bucky wins for Tony. My next sewing project is the arc reactor pillow. Wish me luck! :)


End file.
